Vacuum puffed foods

ABSTRACT

To prevent destructive crystallization of vacuum puffed food products, a powdered edible filler is suspended in a matrix which consists of an aqueous solution of a saccharide. The filler can comprise any of a variety of powdered food substances such as flour, dried milk, cocoa, coffee or powdered vegetable solids which remain largely undissolved in the matrix. The dispersion is made up to a stiff taffy consistency, formed into sheets subdivided into pieces of a desired size, heated sufficiently to become soft and exposed to vacuum until expanded to at least two times their original size.

lJnited States Patent Fritzberg [4 1 Mar.21,1972

[73] Assignee: ,The Pillsbury Company, Minneapolis,

Minn.

[22] Filed: Apr. 29, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 820,309

[52] U.S. Cl ..99/l34, 99/28, 99/65, 99/71, 99/78, 99/83, 99/117, 99/124[51] Int. Cl ..A23g 3/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..99/26, 71, 124,134, 134A, 99/ 138 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,082,313 6/1937Todd ....99/138 3,020,164 2/1962 Forkner ..99/134 1,434,667 11/1922Thompson ..99/138 Primary ExaminerRaymond N. Jones Assistant ExaminerJ.M. Hunter Attorney-Ronald E. Lund, James V. Harmon and M. PaulHendrickson [57] ABSTRACT To prevent destructive crystallization ofvacuum pufi'ed food products, a powdered edible filler is suspended in amatrix which consists of an aqueous solution of a saccharide. The fillercan comprise any of a variety of powdered food substances such as flour,dried milk, cocoa, coffee or powdered vegetable solids which remainlargely undissolved in the matrix. The dispersion is made up to a stifftaffy consistency, formed into sheets subdivided into pieces of adesired size, heated sufficiently to become soft and exposed to vacuumuntil expanded to at least two times their original size.

7 Claims, No Drawings VACUUM PUFFED FOODS The present invention relatesto instantly soluble porous food products prepared by vacuum expansionand to improvements in the formulation tolerance of puffed foodproducts.

The general objective of the invention is to provide a food productcomposed of friable porous pieces which will break up and dissolvequickly when placed in water and which have tender eating qualities,i.e., melt in the mouth when eaten and can be used either as aconfection or as a salty snack. It has been known for some time thatcorn syrup prepared by acid treatment of starch can be used as. aningredient in puffed confections such as malted milk balls. The use ofthis syrup is, of course, limited to those foods which are compatiblewith the sweet taste of the syrup. They cannot, for instance, be usedsatisfactorily with nonsweet foods such as snacks, etc.

Moreover, puffed confections such as those referred to commonly asmalted milk balls have a very low tolerance to formula changes. Thus, ifthe composition is varied to an appreciable extent, the dissolved sugarpresent in the composition will crystallize and either interfere with ortotally prevent expansion when the vacuum is applied. Malted milk ballsare normally prepared by dissolving a sugar in water and then cookingthe composition until the syrup has thickened to the desiredconsistency. It is then beaten, formed into sheets, and expanded. As theproduct expands, moisture is exhausted in the vacuum chamber and thepieces become supersaturated. The sugar then crystallizes out of thesolution. If crystallization occurs too soon in the process, the productwill not expand fully. On the other hand, if the syrup does not harden,removal of the vacuum may cause the product to collapse. Significantchanges in the formula will often prevent the product from puffingproperly.

In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, it is oneobject of the present invention to provide an improved dry, friable,highly porous expanded food product.

A further object is the provision ofa porous expanded food piece whichwill easily break up and quickly dissolve when placed in water or wheneaten.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedporous expanded food product of the type described which ischaracterized by having substantial formulation tolerance so that itwill expand and later solidify even though the proportions of materialsare varied considerably.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of animproved porous, friable food product which is voluminous enough toquickly collapse and dissolve when added to a liquid thereby dispersingundissolved particles throughout the liquid.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedporous friable food product of the type described which does not have asweet taste and can, accordingly, be used as a salty snack with a meator cheese flavor as well as dried soup and gravy mixes, or, for thatmatter, any other food product which is incompatible with sugar.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of animproved porous food product of the type described which can be readilyproduced using available equipment.

In accordance with the present invention and in contrast with the priorart, a matrix is prepared which is composed of an aqueous solution of asaccharide. To the matrix is added a filler composed of a finely dividededible food substance that remains undissolved in the matrix. The fillerappears to absorb a substantial portion of the water present in thematrix and thereby convert the matrix to a stiff syrup having theconsistency of taffy (but which at room temperature may be fairlybrittle). The taffy-like material will hereinafter be referred to as aplastic mass.

The saccharide can be a monosaccharide, a disaccharide or polysaccharideor a mixture of several saccharides. It is, however, essential that thesaccharide that is used be very soluble in water. By the term verysoluble I mean that the saccharide should dissolve in an equal weight ofwater at room temperature. This will exclude certain of the relativelyinsoluble saccharides. It must, moreover, exhibit a decreasing viscositywith temperature so that the matrix can be made fluid by heating it. Thesaccharide must, in other words, be thermoplastic. A third requirementis that the saccharide or mixture can have an amorphous form when dryrather than an exclusively crystalline form. Among the monosaccharidesthat can be used are xylose, glucose, mannose, galactose and fructose.Disaccharides, such as maltose, can also be used but lactose is notsoluble because of its low solubility. Sucrose is unsuitable because ofits crystallinity. Among the polysaccharides that can be used are mixedpolysaccharides, commonly referred to as dextrins. Dextrins are formedeither by heat hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis or enzyme hydrolysis ofstarch. In general, any polysaccharide or mixture of polysaccharideswhich meets the solubility and viscosity characteristics mentioned aboveand which can be amorphous after being dried is suitable.

I was surprised to discover that dextrins produced excellent results byproviding a matrix that allows puffing to occur and yet produces a lightfriable easily dissolved structure after being dried. At the same time,it adds little if any sweetening to the composition. Thus, unlike priorvacuum puffed products, a dextrin will perform admirably as a matrix fora vast variety of highly interesting and novel food products for whichno sweetening is desired. Among these are soup, gravy and other foodmixes as well as snacks, such as salty snacks having a meat, cheese orcereal flavor. These products have a highly unusual character in thatunlike ordinary snacks, when placed in the mouth, they melt quickly likea confection which, as far as I have been able to determine, is unlikeanything previously available.

When a dextrin is used, I prefer to use a mixture having a dextroseequivalent of between about 5 and 25 percent and a total mono, di andtrisaccharide content below about 20 percent and preferably below 15%and the balance comprising tetrasaccharides or above. Such mixtures areproduced by controlled acid hydrolysis of starch followed byrepolymerization or by enzyme treatment. A typical mixture is composedof about equal parts of trisaccharides, tetrasaccharides andpentasaccharides, say about 7 percent each, greater amounts of hexa andheptasaccharides and about 46 percent of saccharides greater thanoctosaccharides. A typical product of the above type is sold under thetrademark Liqui-Dex by Clinton Corn Products Company of Clinton, Iowa.If desired, the mixture can also contain a monosaccharide. For example,I have used a composition composed of 3 percent of a monosaccharideconsisting of dextrose, 6 percent disaccharides, 8 percenttrisaccharides, 7 percent tetrasaccharides, 7 percent pentasaccharidesand 69 percent above hexasaccharides. This composition had a dextroseequivalent of between about 20 and 22 percent. A typical product of thiskind is sold under the registered trademark Mor-Rex by Corn ProductsCompany of 10 E. 56th, New York, New York.

The dextrose equivalent of the enzyme produced polysaccharide mixturecan be even lower than 25%. For example, l have successfully used onepolysaccharide mixture obtained by the enzyme treatment of starch havinga final dextrose equivalent of between 10 and 13 percent. This productconsists of about 1 percent dextrose, 4 percent disaccharides, 5 percenttrisaccharides, 4 percent tetrasaccharides, 4 percent pentasaccharides,and 82 percent of hexasaccharides and above. Yet another mixture thatcan be employed is a mixed saccharide having a dextrose equivalent atbetween 16 and 20 percent and composed of about 1 percent dextrose, 7percent of disaccharides, 9 percent trisaccharides, 6% tetrasaccharides,6% pentasaccharides, and 71 percent hexasaccharides and above. Both ofthe last two mentioned products are sold under the trademark Mor-Rex byCorn Products Company. The mixed saccharide can comprise any mixed monoand polysaccharides derived from any source provided they have adextrose equivalent between about 5 and 25 percent and a total mono, di,and trisaccharide content of less than about 20 percent by weight. Whena polysaccharide mixture is used, those having only a trace of mono anddisaccharides consisting almost entirely of trisaccharides and above arepreferred because the finished product has less tendency to crystallizeupon standing and has less sweet taste which is desirable when used withfoods that do not have a sweet taste.

The saccharide is dissolved in water to provide a matrix. The amount ofwater in the saccharide should be from 4 to 40 percent by weight andpreferably from 5 to percent by weight ofthe final mix.

The particle size of the tiller is not considered critical so long asthere is a reasonably large surface area over which the moisture presentin the matrix can be absorbed. The filler should, however, be inpowdered form with most of the particles having a size of less thanabout 150 microns and preferably less than 40 microns in diameter.

The filler should be present in a sufficient amount to convert thematrix to a plastic condition as distinguished from a syrup. The termplastic as used herein means a thickened mass of taffy-like consistencywhich flows so slowly that the flow cannot be been unless the materialis observed over an extended period of time. Although I do not wish tobe limited to the theoretical explanation for the success achieved inproviding improved formulation tolerance, it appears that the fillerabsorbs a portion of the unbound water present thereby concentrating thesaccharide solution to a point at which it will harden at roomtemperature without promoting crystal growth.

The amount of filler needed to produce a plastic condition will dependupon the composition ofthe filler. The amount of the flller may varygreatly, thus a small amount will produce some small benefit and alarger amount will produce an even greater effect. Thus, in one typicalformula, about ten parts of filler are used for each 225 parts of matrix(of which percent is wuter). In another formula, about 10 parts offiller are used for each 10 parts of matrix. Generally, the fillershould comprise about 10 to 90 percent by weight of the solids presentin the composition, and, in most instances, between 30 and 60 percent byweight of the solids present in the composition.

Among the fillers that can be used are the following materi als inpowdered form: starch, sucrose, milk solids, wheat flour, potato flour,cocoa, powdered soluble coffee or tea, dried fruit pulp, dried drinkmix, dried vegetable pulp, cellulose, dried cheese, peanut butter, driedsoup stock, spray dried tomato soup, dried bouillon, dried gravy mix,dried ice cream mix or any combination ofthese materials.

In addition to these products, I prefer to employ a minor amount ofahydrolyzed vegetable protein foaming agent such as hydrolyzed soyprotein, for example, the product sold by the Gunther Company as D100.When used, it can comprise about 0.5 to 3.0 percent by weight of thetotal composition.

The process used for preparing products in accordance with the inventionwill now be described.

The saccharide, water, filler and a foaming agent, e.g., hydrolyzedvegetable protein, if used, are placed in a suitable mixing vessel andmixed vigorously until converted to a plastic mass. The mass will have ataffy-like appearance and can be observed to flow only if viewed over asubstantial period of time. The plastic mass is then subdivided intopieces of the desired size by molding, extrusion or sheeting followed bycutting, breaking or by any other suitable method. The pieces can be ofany size but are typically about one-fourth inch in diameter.

The mass is then heated sufficiently to render it elastic. By elastic 1mean capable of expanding freely when subjected to vacuum. A furtherreason for heating is to provide enough latent heat to vaporizesufficient moisture to produce the amount of vapor required to effectthe desired expansion and to reduce the moisture content of the matrixto the point where it ceases to be fluid at the elevated temperature.For most purposes, a temperature of about 120 to 200 F. and preferablybetween 150 and 180 F. is sufficient to render the plastic mass elastic.1n the event the material tends to overpuff and thereby collapse afterbeing subjected to vacuum due to too high a moisture content or if theoven temperature is too high, rendering the matrix too fluid, it isdesirable, at least initially, to increase the vacuum slowly andsteadily so that expansion will take place at a controlled rate. Thevacuum is finally increased until a vacuum in the range of 25 to 29inches of water. The flnal vacuum should not be low enough to causeuncontrolled bubbling nor should it decrease during the puffingoperation. The pieces are puffed to at least two times their originalsize.

The vacuum is maintained until the product is dry enough to beself-supporting. This usually occurs in about 10 minutes, but I preferto allow the product to remain in the vacuum chamber for about 30minutes.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the followingexamples.

EXAMPLE I A raspberry flavored confection is prepared as follows: 300grams of corn syrup (43 B.) is pinched in a Hobart mixing bowl andheated to 160 F. to reduce its viscosity and thereby facilitatesubsequent mixing. The corn syrup contains approximately 20 percentwater by weight. To this is added 150 grams of powdered gelatinizedstarch and 9 ml. flavor and color. The product is mixed on medium speedfor a period of 10 minutes until the starch is uniformly distributedthrough the corn syrup. As the mixing continues, a plastic mass isformed which has the consistency of a very stiff taffy. The mass removedfrom the mixer, is then sheeted, scored and broken into pieces of thedesired size after cooling and hardening. The pieces are placed on traysand heated to about 150 F. This causes the pieces to become elastic. Thetrays are then quickly transferred to a vacuum chamber and subjected toa steady vacuum in the range of 25 to 29 inches of water for a period of30 minutes. The pieces each puff to about 3 times their original size.The vacuum is then released and the products are removed.

EXAMPLE II A puffed products is prepared as in Example 1 except thatcorn syrup is replaced by a solution of maltose.

EXAMPLE 111 Products are prepared as in Example 1 except that starch isreplaced with wheat flour.

EXAMPLE IV The product is prepared as in Example I except that starchand flavoring is replaced with 146 grams of nonfat dry milk solids, 54grams of powdered cheese, and 50 grams of gelatinized starch.

EXAMPLE V Another puffed product is prepared as in Example 1 except thatstarch and flavoring is replaced with 300 grams of powdered sucrose andgrams ofa mixture consisting of maltose 30 percent, wheat flour 30percent, and a minor amount of baking soda.

EXAMPLE VI Another puffed product is made as in Example I except thatstarch and flavoring is replaced with the same amount of ground wheatbran.

EXAMPLE V A product is made as in Example 1 except that starch andflavoring is replaced with powdered wheat germ.

EXAMPLE VIII A fruit drink puff for addition to a glass of water to makea fruit drink is mixed as described in Example I. The formulation is asfollows:

corn syrup 43 B. 42% extrose equivalent sucrose finely ground fruitflavor and color 300 grams 300 grams grams EXAMPLE IX mixed saccharide'I571 dextrose equivalent instant coffee (powdered 300 grams 300 gramsThe plastic material is divided into pieces heated to 160 F.

and puffed in a vacuum of 28.5 inches of water.

EXAMPLE X A cocoa puff to be added to hot water for making a cup ofcocoa is mixed as in Example I. The composition is:

corn syrup 43 B. 42% dextrose equivalent cocoa powder SUCI'OSC owderednonfat dry milk 245 grams 9] grams 70 grams 120 rams EXAMPLE XI mixedsnccharide' l820/t dextrose equivalent dried beef bouillon owder water2l3 grams 10 grams 87 grams Footnote 1. dextrose I91. dis-accharides 2%,trisaccharides 6%. tetrasaccharides 6% pentasuccharides 6%hexasaccharides and above 239:

The mixture was blended at medium speed for a period of about 10 minutesat a temperature high enough to fluidize the syrup. At the end of thistime, the mass had become plastic. The plastic mass was formed intosheets, cooled to a consistency at which it could be handled and dividedinto pieces. The pieces were then placed in a vacuum drier with water ata temperature of 150 F. circulating through the heating plates andallowed to become elastic before a vacuum of 29 inches was applied.After one-half hour of sustained vacuum, the pieces were puffed intoround balls. They were completely dried and removed.

EXAMPLE XII cheese powder 300 grams water 87 grams a mixedpolysaccharide 213 grams The manufacturing procedure was the same as inExample XI.

EXAMPLE XIII Tomato soup puffs to be used for making a cup of tomatosoup by addition to water was prepared as in Example XII except thatcheese powder was replaced with 300 grams of spray dried tomato souppowder.

The product was a voluminous puffed ball which, when dro ed into hotwater, dis ersed uickl to form asou pp ExXMPLE xw y p A chicken gravypufi' was prepared as described in Example XII except that the powderedcheese was replaced with a dried chicken gravy.

Footnote 2. monosaccharides (dextrose) trace. disaccharides as maltosetrace,

trisaccharides 7% tetrasaccharides 7%, pentasaccharides 6%hexasaccharides 16%, heptasaccharides 1471 octasaccharides 4%. andhigher saccharides 46% I claim:

1. A method for preparing a puffed food product comprising providing amatrix composed of a solution in water of a highly soluble dextrincomposed of a mixture of saccharides having a dextrose equivalent ofbetween about 5 and 25 percent and a total mono, di, and trisaccharidecontent of less than about 20 percent by weight, and having an amorphousform when dried, said dextrin being thermoplastic when heated, admixinga sufficient amount of an edible filler composed of material whichremains predominantly undissolved to absorb a portion of the water tothereby convert the dissolved dextrin to a plastic state when mixed,mixing the aforesaid materials until the edible filler is dispersed inthe matrix, providing sufficient heat to maintain the resultingcomposition in an elastic condition and thereafter subjecting thecomposition to vacuum of at least 15 inches of water until the foodproduct is dry enough to be self-supporting to thereby puff thecomposition to at least two times its original size.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the matrix is heated before the filleris added thereto to facilitate the dispersion of the tiller.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein a minor amount of a foaming agentcomprising a hydrolyzed vegetable protein is incorporated in thecomposition to facilitate puffing.

4. The process according to claim 1 wherein a snack flavor isincorporated in the composition.

5. The process according to claim 1 wherein the filler is dried cheesewhereby a cheese flavor is incorporated in the composition.

6. The process according to claim I wherein the filler is dried gravypowder whereby a gravy flavor is incorporated in the composition.

7. The process according to claim 1 wherein the tiller is dried soup.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the matrix is heated before the filleris added thereto to facilitate the dispersion of the filler.
 3. Theprocess of claim 1 wherein a minor amount of a foaming agent comprisinga hydrolyzed vegetable protein is incorporated in the composition tofacilitate puffing.
 4. The process according to claim 1 wherein a snackflavor is incorporated in the composition.
 5. The process according toclaim 1 wherein the filler is dried cheese whereby a cheese flavor isincorporated in the composition.
 6. The process according to claim 1wherein the filler is dried gravy powder whereby a gravy flavor isincorporated in the composition.
 7. The process according to claim 1wherein the filler is dried soup.